Dreaming of Another's Memory
by Attanea
Summary: Akuroku AU yaoi.When Roxas starts at a new school after loosing his memory, he quickly makes friends and finds himself falling in love. But the whole school is homophobic and they're already talking about him. Who is Sora, and what's with his weird dreams
1. The Beginning

**Just a quick note, and the only one, I swear: I'm going to write this with a headline of the month and, possibly, the week to help give an idea of how much time is passing. The rest you're going to have to figure out for yourself ;)**

**-Atty  
**

* * *

**Full Summary:**

Life is great for Sora and his two friends, Riku and Kairi. And when Roxas starts at a new school after loosing his memory, he's quick to make friends and soon finds himself falling in love. But falling in love is difficult when it's with someone known for being a pyromaniac-troublemaker and when the whole school is homophobic. And when Roxas starts have weird dreams on top of the school gossiping about him, he starts to realize there's something more to his lost memory. Who is Sora and why does no one know what really happened to him? The only way he's going to find out is by asking Sora's two friends. But how is he supposed to get close enough to the ones that resent him the most, in order to ask, when Riku refuses to let anyone in and hides Kairi behind the same barrier?

Roxas doesn't want to give up his friends just to get close to two strangers, because that also means giving up Axel. Who knew the result of his actions could mean something even worse?

* * *

**THE BEGINNING**

--

**MAY**

--

A shadow fell behind Sora as he stepped towards the light while words echoed in his head.

"Just remember that the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."

Sora faltered and glanced over his shoulder at his growing shadow. It started to writhe and bulge and the lack of light around him grew denser with darkness. Where was he? What was happening?

The shaft of light grew brighter against the black, but it did nothing to push the dark away. All of Sora's attention was on his growing, breathing shadow as it lifted off the ground and faced him. Sora stared at it, unsure of what to do – of whether or not he should run.

He felt a tug on his foot in a grip of something that felt like water. His eyes shot down and he saw a black pool of liquid below his feet, pulling him into the darkness.

"No!" he cried out, his voice seeming to echo within himself as he looked back up to his shadow. He was met with glowing red eyes and his panic grew. Sora tried to struggle against it and reached his arms out for something, anything, but he felt out of control of his body.

"No!" he cried again. "Let me go!" He was unable to describe what had all the elements of a dream and yet felt so real. He choked when the darkness reached his mouth and he tilted his chin up to breath in stale air, not daring to cry out again and waste his little breath left.

Before he had time to think or take in another breath, he was submerged, with only a feeble hand still reaching out in desperation.

First he felt warmth and then a soft, comforting grip was holding his hand, pulling him back out as if it was no effort at all. He was just able to see blinding light radiating from a slender hand before he was pulled entirely out of his reverie.

--

"Sora!"

He heard the bubbly laugh of his best friend, Kairi, above him, and felt the familiar tickle of warm sand beneath his arms and back. He was vaguely aware that the only sound he could hear was the sound of her voice, and it sounded out of place when it didn't echo. He opened his eyes and squinted up at the girl.

"Slacking off again?"

"Hey!" Sora protested, sitting up and pouting at her as all sound came crashing back to him in an instant. He was very aware of heavy waves crashing against the sand further down on the beach and the ever present screech of seagulls came from above. "And what exactly is it _you're_ doing to help?" he teased, now fully awake and already pushing the dream aside.

"Riku sent me to find you," she smiled innocently at him, with her legs bent and her hands on her knees in order to make eye contact with him.

"I knew you'd be asleep," came the very male voice of his other best friend behind him.

"Riku?!" Sora panicked, jumped up and spun around. He found Axel smirking at him and he smiled sheepishly. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"I came to find you two slackers," he said, giving Kairi a playful glare this time instead of Sora. She smiled innocently and giggled lightly when Sora turned to look at her.

"Hmph." Sora turned to her, putting his hands on his hips. "And there you were trying to pin all the blame on me." He could hardly hold his stern look before his face broke into a grin. He could never be mad at that smiling, innocent face. He turned to Riku without warning and said suddenly, "I'll race you!" He ran past him, not missing a beat as he gave Riku a playful shove on the shoulder.

"Hey! Cheater! Get back here!" Riku laughed and chased after him. Sora and Kairi laughed with him, Kairi's laugh coming out as more of a bubbly giggle, as always. She started into a jog and chased slowly after them, only smiling as her two best friends continued their competitive antics.

They all raced up the beach, Kairi coming up behind them, heading back to a little seaside shack that the three always hung out in. Today they were using it as a location to work on their science project. They were supposed to make a contraption that could float and move quickly across the water, so they figured their usual place on the island just off the shore of their hometown was a good place to do it.

Sora and Riku collapsed into the sand once they reached their little hut, breathing heavily.

"I… won," Sora panted, falling onto his back with a grin.

"As if!" Riku breathed. "It was a tie and you had a head start so that makes me the winner."

"Whatever," Sora laughed. "At least I beat Kairi."

"Hey!" Kairi chuckled, catching up to them. She wasn't out of breath and merely came to a slow stop. "That's not fair, I wasn't even trying!"

"That's exactly why it's a good thing I beat you," Sora smiled up at her and all three broke into laughter again.

It was just another typical day for the three friends – it was like their own paradise island where no one got angry and nothing could ever go wrong.

--

**JUNE, WEEK 1**

--

Just great. Roxas hated this part. Even though he didn't remember ever doing it before. But he was dreading his first day of school. He'd come from a therapy to try to regain his lost memory straight to the orphanage he now lived at. He hadn't remembered any personally memories in the end – just basic stuff like writing, eating and a lot of his education. And they had taught him how to do all the rest in rehabilitation.

With no parents left after the accident, and no siblings to begin with, his therapist and he had decided that the best thing to do was to start over in a new town where he didn't have to worry about people already knowing him when he failed to remember them, and when he didn't even know himself. In the end it had been his decision, and so he left – with a new therapist of course, just in case.

Roxas had hardly moved into the orphanage, having just arrived on Saturday, and he was already off to school for Monday. All the paper work had been sorted out before he had moved and the last thing he wanted was to sit around and do nothing. He'd kept to himself the past few days and hardly saw any of the other orphans – the only name he could remember was his roommate, Pence. He figured getting the first day of school over with would be better than unpacking his last few boxes of stuff, which he didn't have much of to begin with. If Pence hadn't offered to help him around the school on his first day, it would have been unbearable walking through those intimidating school doors.

But it was bearable – just. That didn't mean he had to like it.

--

"Let's see your schedule," Pence said, swiping it from Roxas' hand as soon as he'd gotten it from the school office. At first Roxas had gotten annoyed whenever Pence was so blunt and carefree, but it hardly took him an hour before he found out it was hard to stay mad at a boy who always had a smile on his face. He was finding out quickly that it wasn't so bad to be friendly, and Pence was so easy to get along with that it felt natural.

"Hmm…" Pence thought for a moment as he looked over the schedule. "Well the good news is we have first period homeroom together. That's on the third floor," Pence said, heading for the hallway and ushering Roxas to follow. "We can get a locker assigned to you while we're in that class. After that I'm going to have to drop you off at your math class while I go to Chem. I'll come get you again for lunch," Pence continued his banter as they reached a staircase and started heading up it. "I can introduce you to my friends then, they'll love you. You'll probably like them too.

"But it says here," Pence said, pointing to his period after lunch, "That you have a sophomore science course, so I'll have to show you to the science lab on the second floor. Second floor is for sophomores, third is for us, the juniors, and the fourth is for seniors. That obviously leaves the bottom floor for the freshmen. The school probably stuck you in a sophomore class because they're not sure of your science level yet." Pence turned to him as they ascended their third flight of stairs. "You're not saying much."

Roxas smiled and sighed. "I'm just trying to take all this in before I get carried away. It all seems so new to me. Though it probably isn't." Pence shrugged and concentrated on going up the steps, his long explanation over. He knew of Roxas' memory situation. He'd been informed before Roxas had moved into his room, and they'd talked about it a bit yesterday because Pence was just itching to know more. Roxas didn't really mind telling him about it since he had to live with him, but he didn't want it getting around the school. He didn't want that kind of attention.

Pence reached the classroom he was looking for and walked swiftly through the open door without missing a beat. Roxas followed him in and found that the seats for the students got higher as they went further back, and there was a step every few feet. Pence instantly took a left and went up one of the walkways about half way before sliding into a row and dropping his bag. Roxas moved in as well and sat down beside him, dropping his own bag.

"Hayner and Olette are in our homeroom as well. Those are my two best friends," Pence started explaining. Roxas watched students file in and sit down but kept an ear turned to Pence as he talked. "I'm actually glad I have you here with me this morning, otherwise I'd be a loner."

"Why?" Roxas asked, glancing his way.

Pence sighed. "Olette has a doctor's appointment and Hayner normally sleeps in on days we have homeroom first period. You're supposed to show up, but they don't really do anything about it if you don't. But yeah, that's why you won't get to see them until lunch."

"Hm," Roxas murmured. "Well right now I think that's a good thing. I'm not quite ready to get bombarded with new people. I just got here."

"I know what you mean," Pence said. "I can't imagine starting at a new school. It must be worse for you. Oh!" Pence almost jumped and leaned closer as a teacher chewing on a toothpick entered the room and sat down at the desk. "That's Dr. Cid, our homeroom teacher. It's actually just supposed to be Mr. Cid, but one of his classes used to call him Dr. and it kind of stuck. Most of us just call him Cid now though. We've tended to drop the whole Mister and Misses thing. Only a few teachers are still addressed that way."

"You just want me to call him Cid?" Roxas asked.

"Sure, he doesn't mind," Pence said, shrugging. "He's a pretty cool guy."

The bell rang and everyone quieted down. "Good morning class," Cid said enthusiastically. He got a few, much less enthusiastic 'hellos' back but he paid no mind. "To start things off, we have a new student in class today." Roxas groaned as Cid's gaze turned to him, indicating where the 'new kid' sat. "Everyone, this is Roxas. Be good to him. He's knew to this whole school thing."

A few people in the class snickered at Cid's choice of words while a couple others said hey, and Pence gave him a playful shove. _School thing?_ Roxas thought, smiling at the others to satisfy them as Cid continued talking. _What a weird teacher._

"Hey," Pence hissed, leaning over to Roxas again. "Can I borrow a pen?"

"You've got one behind your ear," Roxas hissed back. Pence smiled sheepishly.

"Oh. Right."

They ended up not writing anything down, but a few handouts and a newsletter were passed around. Within fifteen minutes, another bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom. After most of the people had left, Pence finally stood up.

"Come on," he said, getting Roxas to follow him down to talk to Cid.

"Hey there, kid," Cid smiled cheerily up at them, still with a toothpick in his mouth. "What can I do you for?"

"Roxas needs a locker," Pence said, using the nickname he gave Roxas and shouldering his bag.

"Yes he does," Cid agreed. "Do you know of any free ones, Pence?"

"Well there's one just a few down from mine," he offered.

"Perfect! Show him where it is," Cid said, clapping his hands together. "And here," he said, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a lock with a key ring attached. "The keychain on it's got the code. Don't loose it – keep it safe."

"Thank you, Mr. Cid," Roxas said, taking the lock from Cid's outstretched hand.

"Please, call me Cid. Everyone else does."

Pence smiled innocently, flashing his white teeth. "Come on then," he hollered, already at the door. "Let's go or we'll be late for next class!"

--

Pence showed Roxas to his locker and swung it open for him.

"All clear," he said, indicating the empty space. "Mine's just here." He pointed and walked down about ten lockers before stopping and opening one to shove his bag into.

Roxas started unpacking his bag, making the locker his own, and finally grabbed a notebook and pen for math. Pence came back over with his own stuff, still holding onto Roxas' timetable.

"You have math now. Hmm," he thought about it and glanced down the hall while Roxas dialed the combo into his lock, unlocked it, took of the key ring with the combo on it, and locked his locker. As he did this, Pence kept talking and Roxas noticed a slightly taller boy open the locker beside his. "My class and your class are on, like, opposite sides of the school," Pence was saying. "You have the room number. Do you think you could find it on your own?"

"Uh," Roxas breathed, completely unsure of himself. "I-I guess."

"If he's near room 305, I can show him where to go," said a somber voice beside them. Pence jumped and turned to the boy that had just finished with his locker.

"305? That's right where he's headed. You have math now, Riku?" Pence jabbered towards the taller student.

"Yeah," he said simply, as if his mind was somewhere else. "Come on." He turned and headed down the hall without waiting for a response. Roxas looked to Pence for reassurance and Pence nodded to him.

"Hey Riku!" Pence called quickly as he started to walk backwards and Riku glanced over his shoulder. "Cheer up, man. He'll get better."

"Yeah," Riku said quietly and kept walking.

Pence waved to Roxas before turning around and running off in the other direction.

Roxas turned and jogged to catch up with Riku. The guy's hair was a striking silver that went past his shoulders. Roxas was amazed at how well he pulled it off while still maintaining a tough, competitive exterior.

"Uh, thanks," Roxas said awkwardly.

"Don't mention it," Riku said without glancing at him. "You're new here? I haven't seen you around before."

"Uh, yeah," Roxas answered without really knowing what else to say. What could you say when you didn't remember anything about your past?

"Where are you from?" Despite Riku's sudden string of questions, he still seemed like his mind was deep in thought elsewhere.

"Twilight Town," Roxas said, trying to show more confidence than he had been doing so far. "It's about five hours away to the north. There's not much to say about it."

"Do you…" Riku paused as if he wasn't sure he should ask, before finishing his question. "Do you have any cousins? Or something like that?" Riku stopped outside a closed classroom door and turned to look at Roxas. Roxas felt his heart skip a beat. He didn't want people asking about his family so soon. He didn't want people talking about him and yet he couldn't lie about it either.

"Um," Roxas stalled as he tried to find a way to word it without sounding pitiful. "I'm not really sure. I live with Pence at the orphanage."

"Oh," Riku sighed and turned to the classroom. It read 305 across the top. He didn't say anything else and just opened the door. Maybe there were a lot of orphans at this school? Roxas followed in after him and everyone in the class turned to see what was going on.

"Sorry we're late, Leon," Riku said, looking only at the teacher and ignoring the stairs from the class. "Roxas needed help finding his class." Roxas rolled his eyes mentally when Riku tried to pass up his late as him being a good student when he would have been late anyway.

"It's okay Riku, have a seat," Leon said as if he was aware of the situation. "Roxas, welcome to grade eleven math." Roxas smiled weekly at him and gave a sideways glance to the rest of the room. "You can take a seat beside Riku, since you two already seem to be acquainted."

Roxas turned and headed up to his seat as Leon continued his lesson. He glanced at Riku and then at the guy sitting on the opposite side of his designated seat to find him grinning mischievously at him. Roxas quickly looked away and sat down, dreading any possibility of being picked on as the new kid.

--

After class he followed a bit behind Riku in order to find his locker again. Riku hadn't talked him since before they had entered the math classroom and he didn't want to be the one to start up the next conversation. When he reached his locker, Pence was already waiting for him with a guy, about the same height as Riku, only with a bigger build and he had short, light brown hair.

"There he is," Pence said as Roxas walked up to them. "Roxas, this is Hayner."

"Hey," Hayner said with a short wave.

"Hayner, Roxas," Pence said, motioning to each in turn.

"Hey," Roxas said this time, also with a short wave.

"Hayner and I are best buddies," Pence threw in, wrapping an arm around Hayner's shoulders, which was not easy considering their height differences. "He's a bit of a dunce, but he's cool."

"Hey!" Hayner said, this time in defense, shoving Pence off him. "Who got a higher score on the last bio exam?"

"Olette, our other best friend, she's gone down to the cafe to save us our seats," Pence said, ignoring Hayner's comment. "So hurry up and get your stuff so we can go see her!"

"Oh, right!" Roxas fumbled with his lock, finally opening his locker and shoving his notebook and new textbook inside. He grabbed his bag and shut his locker. "Okay, let's go."

"Awesome!" Pence hollered and turned to head to the closest staircase.

"Don't mind him," Hayner said to Roxas as they followed after Pence. "He's a little loud but you get used to him."

"A little?" Roxas laughed. "You don't share a room with him."

"True, that. Though I've had my fair share of slumber parties with him." They reached the stairs and headed down them, Pence completely oblivious to their conversation. "So where are you from?" Hayner asked. "You look familiar."

"Uh, well," Roxas breathed. "I came from Twilight town, which is five hours away, so you wouldn't know me."

"Oh. Pence told me about your memory loss, but I didn't know you'd come from so far away. I thought maybe I'd seen you around," Hayner laughed at himself. "For a minute there I thought I'd be able to help you with your memory."

"No, don't worry about. I've left it all behind so remembering now I think would be a bad thing," Roxas explained as they reached the bottom floor. "Besides, I like it here. I don't need my memory."

"Heh, well Roxas, you're one strange person. I've never even heard of someone loosing their memory the way you have. Didn't know it was possible, really," Hayner smiled down to him. "I guess you're stuck making new memories with us and this crappy school."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Roxas said defiantly. Hayner shoved him playfully and ran to catch up with Pence as they entered the cafeteria. Roxas jogged after them and caught up once they reached a table with a lone girl.

"Olette! Hey, thanks for saving our seats," Pence said as he dumped his bag on the table.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Olette said, looking up at all of them. "Oh, is this Roxas?" she asked as she beamed up at him.

"Oh, yeah! Roxas, this is Olette," Pence said excitedly. He seemed to love introducing new people.

"Hey," Roxas said, sitting down across from her.

"Hey Roxas, what's up?" she asked with a bright smile.

"Not much."

"Hayner and I are going to get some food," Pence said. "You want to come?"

"No, I'm good. Didn't you bring anything, Pence?" Roxas asked as he began to take out his lunch.

"Nah, that orphanage stuff gets old," Pence said before heading off with Hayner.

"We'll save you seats," Olette called after them. She took a bite into her sandwich and Roxas took his own sandwich out of his bag. "So how do you like it here?" she asked after she finished her mouthful. Roxas had to finish his own before he replied.

"It's good. My teachers a pretty easy going and it's not like I've had to be a loner at lunch. I was afraid of that before I moved here and met Pence." He took another bite out of his sandwich.

"Yeah, Pence is great at making people feel welcome. He wouldn't shut up about you all last period. He thinks you're great," she said, pausing to take a swig from her coke can. He told us about your memory. I think it's pretty neat, even though it must suck for you."

"Well I've gotten pretty used to it actually," Roxas said. "It was pretty bad back home when everyone knew who I was, but here it just feels like I'm a normal new kid at a school."

"Well I'm glad you've got a positive look on it. I can't stand people who are all caught up in themselves and constantly beg for the world's pity. You're a cool guy, Roxas."

"Thanks," Roxas smiled down at his food. "You're not so bad yourself."

"You know," she said. "You remind me of one of the sophomores that I've seen around. You look just like him and he's known for his excessive amount of optimism."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Roxas pouted and Olette laughed.

"It's not a bad thing, don't worry."

"Hey guys, what did we miss?" Pence said sliding in beside Olette as Hayner took a seat beside Roxas. "Are you guys well acquainted now?"

"Well enough," Olette giggled. The conversation took up into a new topic but Roxas was distracted right from the beginning. He had glanced away from the table just in time to see a girl with red-brown hair staring at him in astonishment. She looked completely awestruck and confused and worried and zoned out all at the same time, and she didn't even flinch when Roxas noticed her. Roxas noticed Riku walk up to her and say something, and only then did she shake her head to clear it and look away. Just as Roxas was sure she hadn't been looking at him at all, she glanced back at him once more before walking off with Riku.


	2. Figuring it All Out

**JUNE, WEEK 1**

--

"Okay, so Roxas," Pence was saying as they headed back up to their lockers. They had reached the third floor and Hayner and Olette had already gone off in a different direction. "You're next class is one floor down in room 214. It's one of the science rooms which means it's around the bottom of the staircase on the opposite side of our lockers from here. I can show you to the staircase because it's on the way to my next class, but you'll have to go down and read the room numbers yourself. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Roxas said as they reached Pence's locker. Roxas walked passed him to his own and got the stuff he'd need for a science class. Riku came by and discretely pushed the door to Roxas' locker out of the way of his own lock and began to turn the dial. Roxas muttered a sorry and grabbed a pen before shutting his locker and turning back to Pence, only to find him standing beside him.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Roxas nodded and followed after him. They took one turn and Roxas quickly found them standing at the top of yet another staircase.

"So basically just head down there and look around for the right room number. It shouldn't be too difficult," Pence said reassuringly, giving Roxas a pat on the back. "We better hurry though, of we'll be late. I'll see you later."

And then he was gone, leaving Roxas to head down the stairs himself. It was his first day and it was a big school, so his worries of getting lost were a little understandable. Once he reached the bottom, he knew he was doomed. Pence had managed to send him down to a place right next to a hallway crossroad. Just how big was this school? And what was his room number again? 205? He groaned and looked hopefully back up the stairs. Nothing.

With a heavy sigh he went into one of the nearest classrooms as other students went in past him. He walked up to the teacher nervously and cleared his throat.

"Um, I'm Roxas. I'm new here," he said when the teacher turned to him with a smile.

"And how can I help you, Roxas?" she asked. "I don't believe you're in my next class."

"No, um," Roxas felt incredibly stupid. "I have a science class now, but the thing is, I can't remember the room number or teacher and my friend has my schedule with him."

"Hmm," she thought for a moment. "Well all I can do for you is point you in the right direction of the science labs. Once you leave the classroom head to the staircase in view and keep going straight once you pass it. That's the science section. There should only be one or two science classes going on this period so finding the right one shouldn't be too difficult. I'd help you out more, but I have to deal with my own class."

"Okay, thank you," Roxas said, hurrying out of the class and back to the staircase. He didn't want to be late for another class on his first day. Just as he passed the stairs, he noticed silver hair on one of the people in the disintegrating crowd.

"Riku!" he called out. Riku turned to look at him and Roxas ran up to him. "Riku, I'm looking for my next class. It's one of the sophomore science classes but I'm not sure where to find them. Hey wait a minute," he paused. "Why are you down here?"

"I failed science last year, actually," Riku said dully. "You're probably in my next class. I think I heard Mr. Ansem saying something about a new student today. Come on," he finished with a sigh.

"Thanks," Roxas said, relief washing over his face with a small laugh. "What are the chances we have two classes together when one of them isn't even a class in our grade?"

"Hmm," Riku shrugged. "Does it matter?"

Roxas almost faltered mid-step. What was with this guy? He's seemed so downcast – as if he didn't even care about the world. Roxas decided acting too friendly around him would only end up annoying Riku, and so he shut up and followed him.

They reached a classroom and walked in, and Roxas was met with lab benches and a funky smell.

"Mr. Ansem?" Riku asked, walking up to the teacher. Roxas blinked at the mans appearance. He had hair longer than Riku's, only is was blonde and better kept. He also had a short beard and moustache lining his lip and jaw. "Is the new kid, Roxas, on our class list? He's not sure where to go." Mr. Ansem looked behind Riku to see Roxas and nodded.

"I do believe that was the name," he said in a deep voice. He motioned for Roxas to come over. "Let me just double check." As Mr. Ansem looked over the class list, Riku turned and went to have a seat. "Ah yes, here you are. Roxas." Mr. Ansem smiled and turned back to him just as the bell rang and Roxas breathed a sigh of relief. "You can have a seat next to Riku on his lab bench. The student who normally sits there is going to be away for a while so you can use it while he's gone. You look just like him so I think it works out rather well."

Roxas nodded. "Th-thank you," Roxas said, turning and looking for Riku. He saw him sitting at one of the front lab benches, talking to a girl. When Roxas started heading over, Riku and the girl looked over to him – it was the same girl that had been staring at him at lunch. She didn't pay him any mind this time and looked down at her notebook, but Roxas still sensed that she found something about him unsettling. He tried to push away those thoughts and took a seat beside Riku.

"Well that looks reminiscent," Riku said to him.

"Huh?" Roxas looked up at him and saw the girl watching as well.

"You look just like the guy that normally sits there," Riku said bitterly. "He's one of my best friends"

"Oh, um," Roxas wasn't sure what to say. "Well, where is he?"

"Let's just say at this rate you'll be able to finish the semester in that seat," Riku sighed as if it was a real shame. Roxas felt completely out of place. "This is Kairi, by the way. She's my other best friend." He motioned to the girl beside him.

"Hey," he said, hoping she'd do something other than just look at him.

Her face suddenly turned into a warm smile, "Hi," she giggled. Her laugh sounded bubbly. "Don't mind Riku. He's just a little stubborn when it comes to meeting new people." Riku rolled his eyes but Roxas felt a little more relaxed. "It really is like déjà vu, you know," she went on. "He looks a lot like you."

--

After science had ended, Roxas didn't need to follow Riku this time to find the staircase and then his locker, which was a good thing considering he went the other way. On his way up the stairs he felt his head beginning to spin. He reached the top dizzily and headed towards his locker. He felt his head pound and all sound suddenly sounded right inside his head and yet so far away. His vision blurred and turned yellow and he saw black dots creeping across his eyes. He leaned against a wall for support and bent his head down, shutting his eyes tight. The last thing he wanted to do was faint on his first day at school.

Just when he thought he would be okay, he felt his mind kick into overdrive and his temples seared as he saw visions of clear skies and palm trees. He heard a few seagulls and waves crashing to a shore. He saw the smiles of friends, but no faces, and felt pure joy inside him. But it wasn't his joy.

He was thrown back to reality and lurched forward in surprise, only to bump into a passing student.

"Hey, watch it!" the guy cried out.

"Sorry, sorry," Roxas said frantically has he righted himself and looked up at the mischievous guy that had sat beside him in math class earlier that day. He was even taller than Riku.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. It's the new kid from Leon's class," he said with another mischievous grin. Roxas couldn't take his eyes from the flaming red hair spiked and sticking up in random directions on the guys head. It was the kind of hair that would make scientists rethink the constructs of gravity. He had noticed it before, but now that he was being confronted, he really took it in. He didn't know what to say. "You're new around here, so I'll let you off easy this time. For future reference," he flashed his teeth at Roxas in a grin before continuing. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Axel?" Roxas asked, testing the name on his tongue and wanting to remember it, despite himself.

"I'll see you around, kid," Axel said, putting a hand on Roxas' shoulder and walking past him. Roxas looked over his shoulder to watch him go, but Axel never looked back at him. He finally shook himself back to reality and headed to his locker.

As he reached his locker and grabbed his lock, he found himself spinning the combination into it slowly, the vision he had seen earlier creeping back into his mind. Was that what it's like to remember a lost memory? Everything had seemed so clear and real, except for the actual faces of his friends. Maybe it was because he hadn't remembered them yet?

He wasn't exactly sure why, but no matter how real that far off memory had seemed, he felt like it was nothing more than a scattered dream.

--

"Pence!" Roxas called out when he saw Pence looking around for him. Pence turned to him and smiled in relief.

"There you are! What took you so long?" Pence asked as Roxas reached him.

"Sorry, I had a little trouble getting back," Roxas explained as he hurriedly opened his locker.

"Well did you find the class okay?" Pence asked.

"Actually, I was lucky enough to find Riku. Turns out he has sophomore science as well."

"That's right!" Pence said, slamming his fist into his hand. There was a squeak as Roxas closed his locker and Pence kept talking. "I forgot that he had a class with his firneds. He'd even told me once that it was science."

"So does Riku only hang out with the younger grade?" Roxas asked as they headed down the hall.

"Yeah, they're well known as childhood friends. He's only got the two—"

"Wait a sec," Roxas cut Pence off quickly at a sudden thought. "Sorry, I just need to know quickly. What's my next class?"

"Oh, you have History with me and Olette, so don't worry," Pence said hurriedly. "So anyway, he's only got the two friends, really – Sora and Kairi. And right now Sora I taking a break from school. Everybody's been talking about it, but know one knows which rumors are true. Oh! That's the guy you look like. Man, that was bugging me." Pence rambled on as they reached a classroom and Roxas followed Pence in. He saw Olette sitting by the windows and walked over to her with Pence.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Olette asked as they sat down.

"Not much," Pence said, opening his notebook. "I was just filling Roxas in on Sora. I figured Roxas has been seeing Riku a lot and so I might as well tell him about it."

"Well what have you told him?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "There's so many stories going around right now and you don't want to tell him the wrong one."

"Yeah I know," Pence sighed. "I told him that. All I said was that he's currently away from the school and will be for God knows how long. I'd like to know what's really going on myself."

"Well the only way you're going to get the real story is if you ask Riku or Kairi. We don't really know Kairi and Riku is rather touchy on the subject so I don't see us knowing the real story anytime soon," Olette reasoned as if she'd given it a lot of thought before hand. "It's best if we just leave it be. Roxas?"

"Huh?" Roxas looked up as Olette suddenly turned to him. "Yeah?"

"Just know that something's up with Riku's friend so be careful what you say around him."

"Yeah, I know," Roxas said. "It's not like I'd have anything to say to him about it. It's got nothing to do with me."

Olette smiled at him and before anymore was said on the subject, Pence but in with his own story.

"Did you guys here that a student set the vice principals trashcan on fire?"

"What?!" Olette cried, completely aghast. At the same time Roxas sat up straighter and made a surprised noise.

"Do you know who it was?" Olette asked, with her eyes wide.

"Well no one's actually been caught yet, but people are saying the vice is trying to blame the pyro guy that failed a grade," Pence was saying. "I can't remember his name, though I know I should since he's always telling people to."

"Axel," Roxas said, finding pyro to suit the guys flaming red hair and fiery attitude quite well.

"You know him?" Pence asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah. Well, kind of," Roxas said. "I sit beside him in math.

"Hm," Pence made a how-about-that noise before saying, "Well be careful around him. He might set you on fire." Pence laughed and Olette back-handed his shoulder playfully.

"Don't scare the poor guy!" she was laughing as well. But Roxas only pretended to be amused as he remembered the warning he'd got from Axel not fifteen minutes ago.

"_I'll let you off easy this time… Got it memorized?"_


	3. Dreaming On

**Dreaming On**

**JUNE, WEEK 3**

"Who… who are you?" Roxas blinked to clear his blurring eyes, but the white space was blinding, regardless.

"My name is Namine," said the blonde girl in a white dress. With her pale skin, it made her even harder to look at in the bright space.

"Where are we?" Roxas asked, trying to make out something, anything as he looked around.

"You're dreaming. This room isn't supposed exist," Namine said simply.

"Shouldn't exist?" Roxas asked. "But then, how are we here?"

"Who says we're supposed to exist ourselves? Namine asked, stepping closer. Her face was slowly becoming clearer.

"What do you mean by that?" Roxas asked defensively. He didn't like the sound of that and for some reason it sparked his anger. As his anger rose, Namine's face became more blurry.

"You have to listen to the memories yourself, Roxas," Namine almost whispered as she became blurrier still.

"Namine, wait!" Roxas cried out. "What are you talking about?" But she had already disappeared from his vision. When his mind cleared he found himself in a kitchen as a woman with short, brown hair worked over a stove.

_Mom?_ Roxas thought.

"How much longer, mommy?" Roxas new it had been himself who had asked the question, yet he had done it involuntarily and it wasn't even his voice.

Before the woman could respond, the scene dissolved and he found himself sitting on the roof of a small, wooden building. He could see he was on a beach and he could hear the water lapping at the shore. It was the end of a calm day and he could hear someone struggling to climb up the side of the shack to reach him. He lay onto his back and waited, closing his eyes against the setting sun.

"I knew I'd find you up here," said a familiar voice.

"It was a lucky guess," Roxas said, once again finding it wasn't his own will or voice. He opened his eyes to turn to the owner of the voice, but his vision blurred again.

"Roxas!" Roxas jolted awake and turned to see Pence standing over him. "Roxas? Are you finally awake? Geesh. We're going to be late for school. Let's get a move on."

"Ugh," Roxas groaned and rolled over. "Five more minutes."

"Oh no you don't," Pence said, ripping the curtains open. "You get up now or I'm going to have to leave without you."

Roxas groaned again as he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He rubbed at his eyes and stood, heading slowly towards the bedroom door.

"That's more like it!" Pence hollered. "There's breakfast downstairs already made. You better hurry before it gets cold! I've already eaten myself—"

"Pence," Roxas turned back to Pence with a tired expression. "It's too early to be so talkative. You're going to give me a headache."

Pence grinned. "Sorry. I forgot you're not a morning person."

Roxas rolled his eyes at his energetic roommate and smiled to himself. He'd been sharing a room with Pence for more than a couple weeks now, and he had quickly learned that Monday mornings would be no exception to Pence's typical good mood.

"Hey guys!" Pence called to Hayner and Olette as he entered their first classroom.

"Yo," Hayner said with a short wave. "What's shaking?"

"You're here later than usual, Pence," Olette stated, clearly wanting an explanation.

"Yeah," Pence laughed nervously and turned sharply to Roxas with a playful grin. "Well, _someone_ didn't want to wake up this morning."

"Hey, I woke up!" Roxas said defensively and then trailed off, "…Eventually."

The four of them laughed and Roxas and Pence took their seats by Hayner and Olette as the bell rang.

"I just don't understand why you've been so tired," Pence said. "You go to bed at the same time as me."

"My nights have just been disturbed lately by vivid dreams. I never feel well rested after a vivid dream," Roxas explained.

"I know what you mean," Pence said.

"What were you dreaming about?" Olette asked.

"I'm not quite sure. I think they're my memories, or at least what I want my memories to be," Roxas told them, zoning out while he spoke.

"Your memories?" Olette's eyes lit up. "So you think you're starting to remember?" All three of his new friends looked at him expectantly.

"Um, I'm not exactly—"

"Okay class, eyes up front!" Cid called from the front of the classroom. "We've got to get moving with this new unit."

Hayner, Pence and Olette dismissed the dream topic immediately and faced Cid. Roxas was grateful – he was sure they were memories alright… but they weren't his.

When the bell rang Roxas tried to hurry out of class to avoid being prodded about his dream. The three didn't seem bothered by his sudden departure and so he reached his locker quickly with ease. Riku came by as well to grab his books and just as Roxas was about to shut his locker and head to class, Pence popped up beside him.

"So," he said. "You've grabbed my interest. What did you dream about?"

Roxas sighed. He couldn't avoid it forever. He was vaguely aware of Kairi showing up and talking to Riku and he hesitated before telling Pence what he could remember.

"Well," he began. "I think I was with my mom in a kitchen. But it kept switching between scenes and I ended up on top of this weird, wooden shack that looked like it should be falling apart. I'm guessing a friend of mine came up to talk to me and I told him it was a lucky guess that he found me there. That's basically all that had happened when I work up." Roxas paused and Pence seemed to be considering something. "Oh! And there was this weird girl. I think she said her name was Namine. Anyway, she basically told me that I shouldn't exist... kind of pissed me off."

"She told you that you shouldn't exist?" Pence asked. "That's a little rude. What was her deal?"

"I don't know," Roxas sighed. "It was a really weird dream and none of it made sense. She even said that she wasn't supposed to exist so whatever."

"You have really weird vivid dreams," Pence laughed. "Anyway, I'll catch you later. We've got to get to class."

"Yeah, see you." Roxas turned to head to his math class and could see Riku already moving in that direction. Kairi wasn't anywhere around, but now Riku seemed to be sending a clear message to everyone surrounding him as he passed: don't bother me.

"Psst!" Roxas opened his groggy eyes and realized he was dozing off in the middle of math class. They were supposed to be working from the textbook but he just couldn't manage to keep his eyes on the page.

"Psst!" he heard again and turned to look at the flaming redhead in the seat beside him.

"Axel…" Roxas said, remembering the name.

"So you do remember me," he grinned his mischievous grin. "Have a late night last night?"

Roxas decided peaking Axel's curiosity about his dream wasn't such a good idea and so he agreed with him. "Yeah."

"What were you up to?"

"Uh…" Roxas faltered. What would sound believable? "Homework?"

Axel laughed. "Homework? You haven't been here _that_ long have you? What homework could you possibly have?"

"Err…"

"I get it," Axel chuckled and leaned back on his chair, folding his arms. "It's a secret, huh? Were you doing something you weren't supposed to?"

"No," Roxas answered a little too quickly. "I told you. I was doing homework."

"Okay, kid," Axel sighed, putting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. "Whatever you say."

Roxas growled at him and turned back to his work. He'd been pulled out of his sleep enough that he wasn't about to start nodding off again, but now his mind had been put elsewhere and concentrating was futile. He sighed with relief when the bell rang and he quickly grabbed his stuff off his desk and hurried out of the classroom.

"What's with the rush, kid?" came that familiar voice beside him that always made Axel sound like he was up to no good. He was keeping easy pace with Roxas, who felt vulnerable next to such a tall person.

"I'm not rushing," Roxas said flatly.

"You're pretty secretive," Axel said, putting his hands into his pockets. "And you're also a really bad liar."

"I am not!" Roxas said, looking up at Axel. He felt like such a child. Axel only laughed at him.

"See what I mean? I'll see you around, kid." Axel took a sudden but smooth turn down a hallway and Roxas only huffed and kept walking, quickly reaching his locker. "What a nosey guy."

"Who's nosey?" Hayner said, coming up beside him. Roxas almost jumped at his sudden appearance.

"Some Axel guy," Roxas said. "He's in my math class."

"Axel," Hayner shook his head. "That's one name no one forgets. Did you hear about how he set the vice's trash can on fire?"

"That was him then?" Roxas asked, far from surprised.

"Heh, yeah. What a guy, eh?" Hayner smiled and waved to Pence and Olette who were over at Pence's locker. They came over and Pence started talking about how he wanted to go out and get some fast food for lunch, but Roxas only half paid attention. They started to head down the stairs and Roxas remained zoned out until they reached the bottom floor and walked out the front doors.

"Hey, Roxas," Pence stood in front of him and waved a hand in front of his face. "You're really zoned out."

"Huh?" Roxas looked from Pence to Olette and Hayner, who were watching him with concern. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about some stuff."

"Alright, but try not to look so down while you do think. It makes us worry," Pence punched him playfully in the arm and they all kept walking. Roxas smiled to himself and watched his feet as he walked. He was lucky to have made such good friends already, and he couldn't wait to get to know them more. All he wanted was to create new memories for himself, and this time around he would do everything in his power to keep them.

After dozing through his last few classes, Roxas made a stop in the bathroom to wash his face. His vision blurred a little when he looked at himself in the mirror and the low light seemed to make his hair darker. He rubbed his eyes and they refocused, his hair looking normal again. He sighed at his drowsiness and ambled back into the hallway. When his locker was in sight, Pence bounded over to him.

"There you are! We're all going to get some sea salt ice cream, and then we're going to head over to the arcade. Wanna come?" he asked, full of excitement. Roxas barely considered it before he answered.

"Nah, you guys go without me. I'm beat."

"You sure?" Pence asked, looking a little deflated.

"Yeah, you guys have fun," Roxas forced a smile. "I'll tag along next time."

"Okay, I'll see you at home," Pence smiled, turning quickly and jogging back over to Hayner and Olette. Roxas smiled weakly at them when they glanced his way. They all waved to him before heading off and Roxas turned to his locker. After sorting out which books he was going to take home, he shrugged into his backpack and closed his locker. There were only a couple people left in the hallway at the far end by the time he headed to the stairs. He sauntered down to the ground floor and took a side exit. He was just rounding a brick corner when he almost walked into someone.

A blonde with a Mohawk and a triumphant sneer looked down at Roxas. The stranger wasn't much taller or bigger than him, but Roxas tensed anyway because he could almost feel the temperature drop around him.

"Hey, Xal," he called over Roxas' shoulder. "We got us a straggler." Roxas stood stalk still when he saw a shadow block the sun from behind him.

"Well, well, well," a deep, snide voice said from behind him. "Today is just not your lucky day, kid." Roxas slowly turned his head to look up at a very tall, very buff student. His long black hair hung down over his shoulders in thick cornrows except for the half he had tied back, and he had shaved his beard so that his sideburns curved down and then up into a point.

Roxas swallowed and moved his wide, scared eyes to stare off at nothing. He didn't know what to expect next and he hoped it was something he could easily comply with.

"Those are some pretty slick shoes," the one in front of him sneered. "What size?" When Roxas didn't answer right away, the bigger one grabbed him from behind in a choke hold.

"Demyx asked you a question," he snarled, lifting Roxas of the ground. Roxas coughed as his vision blurred and he tried to pull on the huge bicep digging into his throat.

"Woah there, Xaldin," said a third voice. "Ease up on the new kid, jeeze…"

Roxas' heart flipped, with a heavy thump for a landing, when he recognized the voice, and a flaming bit of red came into his blurry vision. Xaldin suddenly dropped him and he stumbled. One of them grabbed his arm to keep him from face planting on the pavement.

"Heyyy, Axel," Xaldin said sheepishly. "We were just roughing him up a bit."

Roxas steadied himself quickly with the arm holding him up and looked straight up into the eyes of his savior.

_Green_, Roxas thought. _Nice._ He felt sweat forming along his hairline and his pulse was unrelentingly fast as the conversation continued around him.

"Of course," Axel said with his signature grin. "We both know you guys can do better than pick on fresh meat. I thought I trained you better than that." Roxas felt a little crestfallen knowing that Axel had something to do with this, albeit offhandedly. He shoved the thought from his mind as soon as it entered.

"Actually, I think I saw a pair of sophomores leaving from the east doors," Demyx offered with anticipation. "Shall we?" He was asking Xaldin and Roxas saw the shadow nod. They both edged around Roxas and Axel and skidded off to torment someone else.

Once Roxas saw them round a corner from the edge of his eye, he realized he was still staring up at Axel whose hand was still, rather possessively, on Roxas' arm.

"Hey," Axel grinned, trying to remove the awkwardness of the situation.

"Hey Axel," Roxas murmured, looking away. "Uh… thanks."

"Don't worry about those two," Axel said, dropping Roxas' arm, smiling as if it was all fun and games. "I'll make sure those two leave you alone… for a little while." Roxas looked back at him to see if he was kidding but he couldn't tell. "Where are you headed off to anyway?"

"Um… home," Roxas stuttered.

"Home, huh? Got lots more homework to do or something?" Axel teased, green eyes glinting. "Come on, I know something better we can do." He grabbed Roxas' arm again and started dragging him along.

"Oh, I, uh…" Roxas tried, failing. "I don't think…"

"Please," Axel waved off his protests. "Don't think anything. It'll be fun." Red hair flashing, he glanced over his shoulder at Roxas with a cheeky smile.


End file.
